Urban Meyer once offered LeBron James a football scholarship to Notre Dame

LeBron James‘ high school football exploits are pretty well known. The NBA MVP was an all-state wide receiver as a sophomore at St. Vincent – St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, and has publicly flirted with the idea of playing pro football many times. Now we’re learning that he had a football scholarship offer from one of the most prominent coaches and schools in the country.

Current Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer recently told The Palm Beach Post’s Ethan J. Skolnick that he is a Miami Heat admirer. In fact, he says that Heat coach Erik Spoelstra reached out to him for advice last offseason. The two exchanged tips on how to deal with star athletes, and Meyer seemed to feel the meeting was mutually beneficial. He also shared the nugget about offering LeBron.

“I offered him a scholarship when he was a sophomore in high school at St. Vincent St. Mary’s,” Meyer told Skolnick. “I was at Notre Dame. He was a receiver, and I was a receivers coach.”

Meyer described LeBron as a “great” receiver, and we saw James display some of his skills during a flag football game against Kevin Durant last year. Given his size and athleticism, LeBron probably could have had an excellent career playing football — though he probably would have picked Ohio State over Notre Dame.

Would he have surpassed the expectations that Saints tight end Jimmy Graham had for him? It’s tough to say, but James probably would have done quite well.